Abstract

VENTURA, Ângela. Adherence to anti-retroviral therapy in HIV . Arq Med [online]. 2006, vol.20, n.1-2, pp.37-49. ISSN 2183-2447.

A literature search was conducted on the MEDLINE database, for the years 1996 to 2004, to collect published articles correlating HIV infection and adherence. Thirty two article were included; we limited to articles in adult human subjects (aged 18 or older) and when the major objective was to determine the prevalence of non-adherence treatment in HIV patients. This review examined adherence definition, study design and methodology, subjects characteristics and measurement of adherence. The barriers to optimal adherence were organized in three major groups: a) Social and psychological factors, b) factors related with the disease and c) factors related to treatment regimen. Most studies used a categorical definition of adherence. By far, the most frequent used methods were interviews and questionnaires. The study designs were primarily prospective and most commonly in hospital-based settings. Man were prevalent in most samples. In most studies adherence was incomplete and difficult to achieve. Social-economic factors, as lower income and lower educational level were negatively associated with adherence. Depression, lack of motivation and complexity of regimen were also related with poor adherence.

Keywords : adherence; HIV infection; anti-retroviral therapy; literature review.

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